Health and Fitness, August, 2011

[Nancy]

Thanks for the tip Harriet!

Today's ex. was musical furniture hubby & I moved two desks unloaded one small book shelf
unloaded and reloaded one larger book case plus a love seat & lamp. And many trips up and down the stairs to the basement today getting ready for carpet installation next week.

[lucylee]

8/1 -- walked 3.4 miles outdoors, did 13 min. floor exercise routine
8/2 -- walked 3 miles outdoors, did 10 min. floor exercise routine (from Cindy Crawford video)
8/3 -- walked 2 miles outdoors
8/4 -- walked 3 miles outdoors
8/5 -- walked 2.5 miles outdoors

8/8 -- exercised 10 minutes
8/9 -- vacuumed 30 minutes
8/13 -- walked outdoors 1.6 miles

8/14 -- walked away the pounds 30 minutes
8/16 -- walked away the pounds 30 minutes

8/27 -- walked 2 miles outdoors

The above record-keeping shows that school REALLY took its toll on my enthusiasm... and just simply cut into my available TIME for exercise... but I am trying to get back into some sort of routine. Need to keep up my stamina for our football weekends. (Remember -- we park a mile away, and it's a lot of uphill walking going back after the game, plus the heat is a factor for most of the season.)
Weight HAS dropped a little since school started, however, so that encourages me to keep the exercise going, too.

AND... feeling a little bit compelled to set some goals as I enter the next decade of life. * sigh *
But honestly, although milestone birthdays DO give one pause, yesterday it occurred to me that there's really no age I'd like to return to. I enjoyed ds at every single stage of his life, but EVERY stage seemed to be the BEST stage... so I expect that to continue, as I anticipate someday maybe having grandchildren and all that goes with that.
I definitely would not want to be 17 again... I wouldn't want to be 25 again, dealing with all the worries of being sooo responsible for a small child... I wouldn't want to be 35 again, facing all the hassle and stress and politics of high school sports w/ds... I wouldn't even want to be 45 again and have to live again through the worries of ds finding a wife -- not knowing/believing enough that he would find such a PERFECT ddil for me...
So -- EVERY age is the BEST age -- but it is still a little bit startling & sobering to face the big 5-0 for the first time.
I shall TRY to behave more sensibly and make myself a mature, responsible 50-year-old.

[Nancy]

Up later today slept in no early morning walk.
I need to get on the ex. bike. x

[Harriet]

lucylee, first, Happy Birthday to you! You don't look a day over 39. But you really don't need to work on responsibility. Look at all that responsibility. You exercised whenever you could and when you had to put school-start-up needs ahead of yourself, you did. Don't beat yourself up, because I think you do very well. During the school year, when you can settle into routine, just tug life back into exercise mode.

My family brought pizza into the house yesterday (not thin-crust), and the place gave them a "bonus" of some kind of a yeast-y, cinnamon-y dessert. I only had small portions, but don't feel well this morning - gee, wonder why. Sigh.

[Harmony]

Well, my eating habits have been horrible and I seem to be in a rut and can't get out. I think I know what's going on mentally, but can't seem to fix it.

One thing I did was practically quit drinking coffee to help my ar problem. Since I'm not fond of plain water, and short on willpower, I've consumed more soda in the past few months than I ever did. And that doesn't help my ar problem one bit and there's more calories in the soda than there were in the coffee.

I did watch that program on TV with Clinton, etc. just came across it by accident, and of course it made me feel triple-y guilty about my eating habits. I would have no idea how to implement something like that even part time. I thought of a couple days' fast but can't do that for several other reasons, I'm just stuck, in quick-sand and going down for the umpteenth time.

It's just too hot to exercise outside and pretty much inside too. I just don't know what to do any more. DH's eating habits are bad for me to be around, (like the pizza in Harriet's house) he has taken to wanting us to have ice cream in the freezer all the time, and cookies in the cookie jar. And soda in the pantry.

Maybe I need to go to our addiction services at our church! I envy all of you who have the strength to eat & exercise right. I really do.

[Nancy]

Going up and down the stairs will be my exercise.
Maybe a short walk with dgd for fun.

[Harriet]

Harmony,you and I are living parallel lives! More calories in to compensate for helping digestive worries*, eating with dhs who don't have the same priorities, mental rut because of ... .... fill-in-the-blank with the worry of the day.

* because of my gastritis associated with AR (says dr), I can feel bad on an empty stomach. Indiana was the first to point that out to me, and she was right. I'm no longer able to let much hunger happen without tummy discomfort that sends me to the kitchen.

I've been successful with eating more nutritious, light foods, but even though they are good for me they haven't necessarily meant I lose weight. If I dare to eat too lightly through too much of the day, I will go into a real hunger mode late and sabotage myself when the family is eating around me. I have to balance that carefully.

Well, HRH did go to walk with me this morning - very rare. I will have to put that feather in his cap. And he does have an interest in healthy eating, programs like the one we saw, etc. But when he actually gets hungry, he's like a lot of men - it's throw caution to the wind, where's the comfort food and ice cream. And I don't have much control over whether he's starving in the evenings - he has to make his own daily choices.

Losing weight takes constant vigilance, but little mistakes in short periods of time add the pounds like magic. It drives me crazy. I'm happy that I've had more exercise this month, but of course it does leave me hungry, that's natural. I still have to calorie-count. I'm pretty sure when I was 45 I lost with exercise alone - what's up with that!

For HRH, I've suggested having another NutriSystem D month and promised I would do it with him. Indiana had been so sure he would continue to lose weight after stopping it, but although he didn't gain (yay), he didn't lose more either. I thought it would help both of us to encourage each other and be "in the same boat" to have success, and he seems to respond to that much structure. But he is terribly resistant because of the price, especially if we did it together. My thoughts are, what was losing 16 pounds worth to him, when it was the only sustained loss he's had? What does it cost to have spent the following month after month with no loss?

These are all the thoughts I'm taking into September with me. August was good, I'm learning (still).

One other thing - some bloodwork is due back to my dr's soon. When that happens, I'm going to have to nag again about getting hard copies of our bloodwork. We get verbal agreement to mail it to us, but then it never comes and this happens every time. I am a person who really needs a visual of all these numbers.

[OKay]

End of the month Check in (for accountability).

I met my weight loss goal for August!!!!!!! It was a nail bitter all the way down to the very last weigh in (this morning), but I was one HAPPY gal to see I was able to meet my goal for the month (8 lbs lost). That brings my total weight lost to 20 lbs in 81 days.

DH is the rock star. He has lost 43 lbs. He has been to the doc for other reasons this month and Doc just says to "keep on doing what your doing".

Soooooo....Sept is more of the same for us.

Harmony - I wish I had some words of wisdom. We didn't have the UHMmmm to buckle down and lose weight until DH health was on the line. When DH heard the diabetes diagnosis from the doctor, it was like a light bulb came on and he was ready to get serious.

[OKay]

OH - in case anyone is interested in joining me (i would LOVE the company)....

I have started the C25k conservative program this week -
http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/Progr ... rogram.htm

It is a very slow progressive program (7 months) to take a beginner to running 5K.

The thing I really like about this program is it only happens 3 days a week (after the first month). 3 times a week? Yes, I can commit to that for a good exercise routine.

[Nancy]

Stairs and walking were my exercise today.